Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.

Shortly after taking office, President Obama pursued fulfilling his campaign promise to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, despite dangerous national security implications. While the President has backed off this risky campaign pledge, his Administration has taken off the table detaining future captured terrorists at GITMO, despite having no backup plan.

As the former Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I repeatedly sought to work with the Administration on crafting a detention and interrogation system for handling the questioning of captured terrorist suspects, but the Administration refused.

Intelligence is our first line of defense against terrorist attacks on our troops overseas, our allies, and our families here home. And, unfortunately, the lack of a coherent detainee and interrogation policy under this Administration threatens our ability to gain this life-saving intelligence.

Senators' McCain and Levin's efforts to craft and pass bipartisan legislation outlining a detention and interrogation policy for terrorists

As I wrote in The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam, the United States continues to ignore Southeast Asia at its own peril. Not only is this region key economically – ASEAN is already ranked as our fifth largest trading partner – Southeast Asia is key strategically and to our own long-term security.

While President Obama’s recent steps to reengage with Southeast Asia is the most progress made in decades, much more is needed to ensure the United States is not left sitting on the sidelines. Maintaining a strong military and diplomatic presence to assure that none of our “friends” seek to expand their influence by force are necessary moves, as I’ve heard directly from Asian leaders.

Serving on CSIS’s U.S.-ASEAN Strategy Commission, we recently released a report outlining a number of policy recommendations to help reestablish the United States’ leadership in the region. It is not too late to invest, trade and engage in the most dynamic region in the world, but if we fail to act

Attorney General Eric Holder has launched a hostile takeover of our nation’s terror-fighting policies. Admiral Blair’s ouster should come as no surprise to those of us who have watched this takeover. In many ways, Blair’s resignation was a foregone conclusion. First, he faced a statutory stumbling block—Congress gave him all the responsibility to stop terrorist attacks but not enough authority to actually force the changes needed to reform our Intelligence Community. Then Blair made the strategic mistake of speaking out publicly against Holder’s wrongheaded decision to Mirandize the Christmas Day bomber—a blunder that gave Abdullmutallab’s coconspirators a five-week head start to cover their tracks. Unfortunately for our nation, with Holder acting as the de facto leader of our Intelligence Community, there are much more dangerous implications than just forcing a good public servant out of a job. With Holder at the helm of our nation’s terror-fighting policies, gathering life-sav